In Which Alex Meets the Countries
by VortexisDragon
Summary: Or In Which Alex Finds Sanctuary. As Alex is yet again running from the many people trying to kill him, he accidentally stumbles into a World Meet where he encounters the strangest representatives he's ever met. But is that really all there is to them? And with an old enemy on Alex's tail, will they all manage to make it out unharmed? (My First Story)


_Hey everyone, VortexisDragon here._

 _I just wanted to preface this by saying this is my first story on this site, and more of a random idea than anything. Just to try things out really. As such, some of the characters might be a bit OOC and if so, I would appreciate any tips I can get about writing their personalities, especially the countries. Also, I apologize for any errors I might've missed._

 _But anyway, I hope you enjoy my crossover of Alex Rider and Hetalia - Axis Powers:_ In Which Alex Meets the Countries.

* * *

Alex was running. Again. It seemed to be a reoccurring thing with him. All of his missions somehow go wrong. Why couldn't he get at least one easy one? One where everything goes as planned and he didn't end up having to run for his life. Shaking his head to rid himself of those depressing thoughts, he quickly rounded another corner. He had to focus if he wanted to get out of this alive.

Currently, he was running through the streets of London, getting many an odd look as he passed. He sure made quite a sight too, his clothes torn and bloody, fair hair matted and dirty, brown eyes wide and searching. Bruises and cuts decorated most of his showing skin, his chest heaving as he ran. But he couldn't stop. They would catch him if he did and if that happened. . . Well let's just say Alex didn't like his odds of surviving.

This time, he was being chased by a few members of a human trafficking ring he had been tasked to investigate. Thinking on the fly, Alex glanced around quickly as he ducked into a tall building, heading straight to the stairs to find somewhere to hide for a while.

Choosing to ignore the shouting that followed in his wake, he took the stairs two at a time. He would do damage control later, but right now, he needed to find somewhere secluded where he could regroup without any civilians being in danger. This was his problem now, and he should deal with it, although he placed the blame entirely on Keith for even getting him into this mess.

 _Keith_. The damn traitor.

The two of them had been tasked with going undercover in order to gather the evidence needed to take the entire ring down for good. And they had just found enough to bring it down too when Keith decided he didn't need Alex anymore. After all, he was only – and I quote - "an attention-seeking, privileged, brat."

See? This was why he didn't like working with partners. Keith had decided to sell him out and then turn in the evidence himself, saying Alex was an 'acceptable casualty' while he took the credit for the mission completion for himself. And people still wonder why Alex didn't trust easily.

Turning his focus back to running, Alex doubted he would be able to keep this up for much longer. He needed a place to hide, a place to bandage his injuries before he passed out from blood loss. Yes, to make matters worse, he was in fact bleeding, quite badly too, from where his ever so kind partner had decided to put a hole in his arm on his way out.

So here he was, stumbling through some random building clutching at the bullet wound in his left arm and rapidly searching for some room that could serve as a sanctuary. It really was sad what his life had come to. Sighing faintly, he took a moment to observe his surroundings, searching for a suitable hiding place.

Trying a few of the doors that ran along the hallway, he found that they wouldn't budge. Locked. He cursed and continued checking more of the doors.

As he moved, his ears caught the sound of faint arguing coming from a room down the hall, and as he approached, he spotted the words, "World Meet" on the side of the double doors. Alex assumed this room would be unlocked as it seemed to already have occupants. Although he probably should've kept checking the doors to find another, actually _empty_ room, he decided he didn't have the time. He had to hide and figure out a plan. He didn't have the time to ponder his choices anymore.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the doors and went in.

* * *

Alex was expecting many thing when he pushed through those double doors. He was expecting a bunch of old guys shouting at each other in various, barely comprehensible accents. He was expecting complicated documents placed across the table and statistics and graphs showing on the front board. He was expecting to be yelled at as soon as he walked in, expecting to be questioned and possibly kicked back out. You know, things that anyone would expect from a room labeled "World Meet."

However, looking around the room, Alex could already tell this meet was anything from normal.

First off, there weren't any old men, in fact, the people in the room didn't look any older than their thirties. At best, they all looked to be in their early to mid-twenties.

Only a few actually noticed his entrance and stared at him with a mixture of surprise and confusion, including the happy looking brunette with the closed eyes, the stern looking Aryan, and the two Asian men - one with short black hair and the other with longer brown hair to name a few, but there was also a blond haired man in a bomber jacket and glasses that seemed to be presenting with what looked like a - Alex paused, caught off guard by the _giant robot_ drawn on the board next to the man.

He shook his head quickly and continued looking around the room. There was a tall, burly, pale-haired man wearing a scarf smiling at no one in particular, a dark aura slowly growing around him. Alex shivered. . . Moving on. He did another double take at the two other blond haired men fighting with each other, although the one with the longer hair seemed to be trying to grope the one with the large eyebrows as they both shouted over the other.

Strangely enough, they seemed to be referring to each other as countries. Alex heard shouts of 'Bloody Frog,' 'France,' and mention of ' _Angleterre.'_ as well. _._ A rather odd choice of nickname. But also weirdly fitting. As he silently watched the mayhem happening around him, Alex suddenly regretted coming into this room.

But he couldn't leave now though, he would get caught. So he would have to somehow make sense of this. He had gotten himself into this mess, and he would get himself out if necessary.

"EVERYONE SHUT UP! Don't you see we have a visitor! Behave yourselves!" The loud German yell snapped him out of his thoughts as the room quickly silenced itself, everyone freezing in their spots. Alex tensed, glancing from person to person as various sets of brightly colored eyes all snapped their attention first to the Aryan that had spoken and then to Alex's own position by the door.

Alex took a step back under the multitude of eyes, prepared to fight or flee, damn his injuries. His left hand silently fingered the small blade tucked into his waistband. He had to be careful here. Despite the overwhelming _strangeness_ of whatever he had just walked into, he was still injured and in unknown territory. He had to keep his guard up.

"Who are you? Are you alright? What're you doing here? How'd you get in?" The blonde with glasses in front of the presentation board was the first to break the short silence. "And are you covered in _blood?_ You should probably get that looked at, kiddo." Alex stared at the man incredulously, gripping his bleeding arm tighter and wincing slightly. This caused one of the Asian men, the one with longer brown hair tied over his shoulder, to approach him cautiously.

"How about we see to those injuries –aru? Wouldn't want anyone to bleed out now would we?" Alex searched the man's eyes for any sign of malice or deception but found nothing but compassion and a faint curiosity. A certain amount of light and just plain old _age_ showed in his eyes.

 _This man_ , Alex thought. _He seems different._ Much older than his appearance suggested at least. His eyes showed too much emotion and depth for a man who seemed to be in his twenties or thirties. He nodded slowly, letting the strange man take his uninjured arm and lead him over to a chair to take a look at his still sluggishly bleeding wound.

As the rest of the room broke out in voices and questions yet again, Alex could only tiredly listen, overwhelmed by the multitude of voices. It was hard to focus on just one of the people _– representatives? -_ But when a first aid kit suddenly appeared in his vision, his eyes instantly snapped toward the direction it had come from.

There was no one there.

Frowning slightly, Alex forced himself to look closer. There had to be someone there, his instincts were screaming at the proximity. A moment later and his eyes had readjusted themselves.

 _There_. It was the guy that was presenting when he first came in, but how? . . . Wait. Alex's thoughts suddenly derailed themselves. This man wasn't the presenter, the man in front of him now had different eyes, a different presence than the first guy. They were surprisingly similar though. Twins maybe? Quickly meeting the newcomer's eyes, the other smiled,

"Hello there. I thought you could use the help." The man was quiet and soft-spoken. And almost unnoticeable at first glance too.

Alex simply nodded, a bit confused at the man's appearance, "Thank you, mister. But if you wouldn't mind me asking, but how come I couldn't notice you at first? Do you just have a low presence or something? Cause I usually wouldn't miss someone like that."

"Ano . . . is there someone there?" Sounded a Japanese accented voice.

He looked over to the other Asian man, the one with shorter, black hair. "The guy who brought the first aid kit. This guy. You know, the one standing next to me right now?" Alex said pointing to the quiet man, "And thanks again for the kit. . ." He trailed off, searching for a name

"Can- Matthew. Matthew Williams. And it's no problem. I'm just usually not noticed." The man responded, voice soft. Alex nodded, smiling slightly at the shy man, wondering at the slip of the name but deciding to ignore it for now.

"Nice to meet you Matthew. I'm Alex."

" _Matthieu?"_ The Frenchman chimed in, " _Mon Cheri,_ I didn't even notice you there."

"Mattie!" Came the happy cry as Alex's original questioner lunged at the man in a hug. Only for Matthew to step aside before he connected. The loud man landed with a thud. "Mattie. . ." He whined. "Why would you do this to me, little bro? Don't you love me?"

"Of course, Al." Matthew said as he patted the excitable man on the back, immediately causing 'Al' to shot up again and wrap the quiet man in a hug, a broad smile on his face.

One of the previously fighting blond men walked over, hitting Al over the head and mumbling about "loudmouth idiots" as he scowled at the childish man.

"You know you love me, Iggy," Al said happily. "I'm the hero after all!"

'Iggy' just grumbled again.

Filing that conversation away into what his mind was now calling "The Strange Representatives Folder," Alex focused back on the Asian man next to him as he started to utilize the wipes and bandages of the first aid kit with practiced motions.

Suddenly however, the man's hands stilled. "This is a bullet wound -aru." His voice was surprised, "How in the world did you get shot?" And suddenly, all the attention was on him again. Great.

Alex hesitated slightly before answering the kind man, "It's. . . It's complicated. Let's just say I have a lot of people who don't like me very much."

There was silence for another moment as they all looked at him curiously. Then the Aryan man who first yelled spoke again, "Alex, yes?" At his nod, the man continued, "But who could possibly dislike a teenager enough to actually shoot them? They could've killed you."

Alex tensed at the question, shifting uncomfortably as all the stares, "Well I think that's what they were actually aiming for in the first place. I just got lucky. . ."

" _Mon Dieu,_ child. What kind of people do you know?" the Frenchman said, shocked. Seeing the other's similar expressions, Alex hastened to continue.

"It's complicated. I only ended up here while running away from said people. I didn't mean to run into any of you. In fact, I should probably leave soon before they find me again. I wouldn't want to get any of you involved with my conflicts. They have a grudge with me, not you guys."

"And would these people after you happen to be the same people who gave you the rest of those injuries as well, Alex-san?" This time it was the Japanese man that spoke up again. His voice was calm and inquiring, his tone almost completely blank.

Alex simply nodded, not sure what to say. This caused 'Al' to comment loudly, "Seems like there are bad people coming that need to be punished! But no need to fear, the hero will take care of them! The bad guys won't stand a chance!"

'Iggy' just hit the man over the head again before speaking up himself, "Sorry about that. The loudmouth here has a hero complex. He's right though as much as I hate to admit it. We can help you out if those men are still chasing you."

Alex chuckled slightly at the interaction, but remained a bit apprehensive of their offer. "I'm sorry, but why would you want to help me? This isn't your problem. And no offense, but I don't know any of your names, only Matthew's over here." He jerked a thumb at the quiet man. "And I guess Al's as well."

The attention turned back to Matthew for a moment, as if everyone had forgotten him again, before 'Iggy' started to speak again in his clear English accent,

"My apologies, our manners seem to have left us. I'm Arthur Kirkland. The git next to me is Alfred F. Jones." He expertly ignored the man's complaints at his comment. "The frog with the long hair is Francis Bonnefoy. The quiet one is Honda Kiku. The brunette at your arm is Wang Yao. The one with the scarf is Ivan Braginsky. The stern German is Ludwig Beilschmidt. And the other brunette is Feliciano Vargas. We're all representatives for our respective countries."

The more Arthur spoke, the more Alex took notice of the man's voice. But there was something about it that seemed different, almost mystical. It was like a call to him. He took strength from it. It was quite a strange feeling.

Deciding to ponder on that oddity later, he glanced around the room at each of the faces. Most of them smiled or nodded. The brunette with the closed eyes – Feliciano – smiled and waved happily, childlike in his happiness, but Alex decided that was just normal for the brunette, as no one else gave much of a reaction. He did notice, however, as Ivan's dark aura seemed to grow as he smiled, making the people near him back away slightly. Even more so when the man brought out an iron pipe from God knows where at the thought of 'dealing' with Alex's pursuers. _I'll just ignore that for now,_ Alex decided.

The spy turned back to Arthur and nodded, a small smile appearing on his face as he responded, "Thank you. It would mean a lot for you to help even a stranger like me. But can you all handle yourselves? I mean, the guys after me are pretty well armed and they do really want to kill me. And I refuse to let anyone else die for me. I won't allow it. Especially since this isn't even your fight." His eyes hardened. "I just want to make sure you guys know what you're getting into. Although, honestly speaking, I could probably use all the help I can get."

The Englishman simply smirked, a glint entering his eye as he spoke. "I'm sorry Alex, but no measly criminals will be able to get rid of any of us, I assure you. Plus you're no stranger, you're my countryman. I would gladly help." Arthur gestured around at the others. "Plus it's been far too long since any of us have had a good fight. We could use the action. So don't worry about it."

Alex felt warmth fill him once more at Arthur's voice, the man's words wrapping around him like a security blanket. He felt safe, free. Lighter than he had even been before. Alex decided he liked the feeling.

And suddenly, his future seemed a lot brighter.

At that moment, loud shouting reached them from the hallway outside the door. All of them heard the rapid footsteps approaching as they quickly armed themselves. Alex didn't know where the weapons had come from or how they were able to get them so fast, but there they were, at the ready.

"L-Ludwig! The bad guys are coming! Save me! I'll surrender, I'll surrender!" Feliciano cried.

"I get to crush them, _da?_ " Ivan added, still smiling.

"Do not let your guard down, _minna-san_." Kiku said simply.

" _Non, non, non._ Of course not, Kiku _._ Who do you think I am? _"_ Francis tutted.

"Who knows exactly who are frog, that's why he said it. Now everyone shut your mouths and get ready." Arthur chided.

"But, Iggggyyyy. We're only having a bit of fun, lighten up why don't you." Alfred responded before smirking. "I bet I can get more than all of you~"

"You're on! –aru!" Yao called back.

"I-I don't think this should be a contest. Alfred, you need to be more careful." Matthew commented quietly.

"Can – Matthew is right. This isn't a game." Ludwig paused. "You wouldn't win it anyways."

As each representative said their piece, Alex took a moment to observe the variety of the weapons each man had. Kiku had a katana, Yao had brought out a wok of all things – really, a _wok,_ not lying – while Ivan had his pipe and Arthur had an old rifle in his hands. Ludwig had a German-made pistol, while Alfred had an American revolver himself. Matthew had a rifle as well, this one more modern than Arthur's own. Feliciano on the other hand was clutching a white flag, and Francis had his own duel pistols. Alex, not one to just stand by, stood up as well, sliding the small knife into his hand as he took a defensive stance near the door.

Just in time too, as said doors burst open and several men flooded in, each brandishing their own guns. As the men raised their guns and the representatives behind Alex tightened their own grips, one of the attacking men spoke, gray eyes cold and spiteful.

"Alex Rider. Teenage spy extraordinaire. Did you really think I would simply let you get away?"

Some of the men around Alex tensed at his title, Arthur's eyes narrowing as he glanced to Alex quickly, a flash of recognition sparking in his green orbs, before the man refocused his attention on the intruders. Alex just sighed internally. There would be questions answered later then.

"Keith." Alex replied flatly.

Well if he got out of this alive, he would gladly answer the man's questions. There was just something about Arthur that made him want to trust him. The others gave him a strange feeling as well. And no matter his personal experiences with trusting people, these guys deserved answers. They had decided to help him, a perfect stranger, even when he barged into their meeting room unannounced and bleeding, dragging his problems along with him.

But Keith chose to ignore him for the moment, eyes scanning the other people in the room, a single eyebrow raising at their odd choice of weapons before he spoke once again, "Well isn't this sweet. Little Alex found some people to fight for him. How wonderful. But how about you gentlemen let us take Alex here and no one will have to get hurt. This isn't your fight after all."

"Who's to say this isn't our fight?" Arthur commented harshly.

"And what exactly do you need 'Little Alex' for anyways?" Ludwig asked.

Keith chuckled darkly, "Well you see, _Little Alex_ here, he took something from me and my friends. A flash drive with some _very_ precious files on it. The boss and I would very much like that flash drive back. And if the boss doesn't get it back soon, well, you wouldn't want to see the result." Here the man scowled and turned, sneering at Alex, "But this _brat_ hid the flash drive. We need him to tell us where it is, but sadly, he ran before we could finish . . . _asking him._ "

As Feliciano shivered and hid behind Ludwig at the man's cold tone, Ivan chose this moment to speak up himself, still smiling widely at the men, "And by _asking_ you mean _torture_ , _Da_?"

Keith's smirk was telling.

The Russian started to laugh quietly in response as he slowly approached the men. The room shivered as one. Everyone could feel the tension rising around them.

"And to answer your question," Arthur's voice was hard, "You're not taking Alex anywhere."

The first gunshot sounded. And the room descended into chaos.

One of the armed men went down as Keith pulled the unsuspecting man in front of him, using him to block Arthur's shot. Immediately afterward, a loud clang rang out as another one of the men fell unconscious to Yao's wok. Which, Alex noted, the man was using with a surprising amount of efficiency. A second clang announced Ivan's use of his own iron pipe and the collapse of another intruder.

More gunshots sounded as a fourth and fifth man fell to the marksmanship of Ludwig and Alfred. They were wounded, but not dead. As the various representatives dealt with the multitude of intruders each in their own way, Keith had discarded his meat shield and charged towards Alex, intent on taking the spy down.

Expecting the attack, Alex swiftly parried the man's first strike and retaliated with a hit of his own. Their fight then began in earnest. The two quickly descended in a match of hand to hand as each sought to disable the other.

For a long few moments, neither could gain the upper hand, but the smirk never left Keith's face. "I know: how 'bout you come with me like a good little boy, and I won't hurt your new friends. Sound like a deal?" Alex just growled in response, glaring at the elder.

The cold man's smirk only grew. Feinting a strike, he landed a hit on Alex's injured arm, knocking the boy back as he turned his gun towards the fighting representatives. Seeing what was about to happen, Alex shouted out a warning to Keith's unsuspecting target.

"Matthew!" Said blond turned at Alex's shout, but it was too late for him to react in time. The gun fired. And Matthew fell.

What followed was more mayhem. Alex gave a roar of anger as he tackled Keith, knocking the traitor out as shouts filled the room.

"Mattie! / Matthew! / Canada!" _Wait, what?_ Alfred quickly rushed over to where his look-a-like had fallen, shadowed closely by both Arthur and Francis. But the man on the floor didn't move, even as a dark red blotch started to spread from the hole in his chest.

Alex stared in shock, horror overcoming his features. _No. What had he done?_

He had gotten these people involved and now one of them was dead. _It's all his fault._ He stumbled over and sunk down next to Alfred where the man was kneeling next to Matthew's body. Arthur and Francis stood behind the worried man as the rest of the representatives formed a loose circle around them after finishing up with the last of their armed attackers.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. This is all my fault." Alex said as he gazed sorrowfully at the quiet man kneeling over Matthew's still form. However, glancing around, the rest of the representatives seemed unconcerned about Matthew's demise. _Why? Do they not care? Or is there something more to this?_

Arthur was quick to correct his thoughts though, the man's green eyes meeting Alex's own brown. "Alex, kid, this isn't your fault and don't you dare blame yourself. It was that bastard's fault if anything. We got ourselves involved. Matthew getting shot has nothing to do with you."

"But-" Alex stopped, staring at the man before slowly nodding. A moment later, a shuddering gasp resounded in the following silence.

Matthew had sat up, Alfred keeping him steady as the newly revived man started to cough, the bullet wound closing before Alex's very eyes.

 _How?_ Alex was frozen in shock as he stared at Matthew's very much alive form. _He should be dead. That bullet hit him right in the chest._

Alex's mind scrambled to come up with an explanation, sorting through everything he had noticed since coming into the room. _What was it about these people? Are they even human?_

Wait. That's it! His mind latched onto one of the words spoken in the chaos. _Canada. They called Matthew Canada._ Things slowly started to fit together in his head: The 'World Meet,' the different nationalities and apparent stereotypes. The age in the Yao's eyes. Matthew reviving after being shot in the chest, after his pulse had _stopped_ , the others calling him Canada. The names he heard when he walked in. Their youth despite being representatives of countries. Even the feeling he got when Arthur spoke. Plus, he thought he had seen these type of people mentioned before in MI6's files. They could be the rumored 'Nations' he had heard of. I mean, it seemed to fit the picture Alex was slowly building.

"That's it," Alex breathed, drawing everyone's attention back to him. "You guys are the Nations aren't you? Or at least something similar, right? I thought I saw something about representations of countries before." They all stiffened. _Well that's self-explanatory_. Alex sighed, "Suddenly everything makes a lot more sense."

"Ah! Germany! He figured it out! Please don't hurt me!" And Feliciano suddenly had his white flag back out, frantically waving it around from behind the Aryan man. Alex sweat dropped.

However, the now identified Germany just sighed, lowering the boy's hands before turning back to Alex. "Yes that's right, we're the ones you call Nations, physical representations of a country. As you can probably guess, I'm Germany, and this is Italy. I'll let the others introduce themselves though."

"I'm the great America! The world's hero! And Mattie here is my sidekick, Canada." Alfred yelled, still supporting the quietly smiling Matthew. _These two make a surprising amount of sense. It certainly explains Matth – Canada's lack of presence._

"I'm not your sidekick America," came the exasperated voice of said Canadian.

"France. At your service." Francis said with a flourish and a wink. _Why does he make that seem creepy?_

"Russia. You wish to become one with, _da?_ " Ivan stated, with his ever present smile. Alex shivered. Again. Choosing to ignore the man's question. _Is he ever not smiling like that?_

"I'm China -aru!" exclaimed Yao, waving to him. _Well that explains the age thing._

"Japan. Konnichiwa." Kiku said with a respectable bow and a blank face. _Again: Fitting._

"And I'm England," introduced Arthur, the last to speak. _Ah. So that was why I felt so safe when he talked. I'm standing in front of my own_ country _._ _What a strange idea._ Alex shook his head lightly before switching his attention back to Arthur. _England,_ he corrected _._

"It's very nice to finally meet you face-to-face Alex. I've heard a bit about you from Alan and Tulip but they've always said you were on a mission or recovering from one, so I couldn't meet you." He paused slightly, seeing that Alex was still injured, before continuing again, "Why don't we have China here help treat the rest of your injuries and you can maybe explain a bit more of what just happened and how you even got into this mess." Here England gestured to the many unconscious men scattered around the room. "I might've heard a lot about you but I certainly didn't expect to run into you like this. Much less you being so young. How old are you anyways?"

"15, sir," Alex answered as China settled down next to him, retrieving the first aid kit as he started to bandage and clean the rest of Alex's various injuries. His response made England freeze however, same with many of the other countries.

"What are you doing in M16 at 15? You shouldn't have been allowed to join yet." England asked, a forced calm to his voice. "And none of that 'sir' crap," He added hastily, almost as an afterthought.

Alex nodded, but looked at him in confusion, "You mean you don't know?"

England shook his head, "Know what?" he said, silently dreading the answer.

"Well apparently, both my dad and uncle were spies for MI6. Both my parents died when I was still a baby and my uncle was killed in action when I was fourteen. So long story short, I ended up being blackmailed my MI6 to finish my uncle's last mission."

" _Blackmailed?"_ questioned England icily, green eyes narrowing.

Alex nodded, resigned. He took a deep breath before continuing his explanation. "Yeah, they threatened to deport my guardian if I didn't do the mission for them. After I managed to successfully complete it though, Blunt realized how useful I could be in the field." Alex paused, sighing.

"What followed was a combination of near-death experiences, betrayals, more blackmail, suicide missions, and various criminal organizations. This most recent one was a drug trafficking ring that me and _Keith_ here _,"_ Alex scowled at the man's name, _"_ Were tasked to investigate and break up. But he had decided he didn't need me and sold me out, leaving me to die while he claimed credit for the successful mission. Apparently, he didn't like that I was younger than him but still more respected and renowned by the heads."

Alex paused, "Complete Prat he was _._ Glad I got to take him down. But anyways, I managed to escape before they could torture and kill me, but not before Keith managed to give me a parting gift." Alex gestured to the newly wrapped bullet wound in his arm.

All the countries were angry at the events. Japan had a twitch in his eyebrows and Russia's eyes had darkened as each country took the time to absorb the information. England was the one to break the silence though,

"So you're telling me that _my_ people, _my government,_ blackmailed a 14 year old kid into completing a mission that got a grown man killed? And kept doing this over and over again?! For more than a year?!" His voice steadily increased as he spoke, until he was almost shouting in his anger.

"Pretty much," Alex said simply, shrugging.

"Well I'm going to have a long talk with my heads of intelligence about using children as assets. As well as keeping secrets from me." England turned back to Alex, "I will fix this. You don't deserve all this bloody bullshit. You could probably use a break anyways. I'll deal with those gits back at MI6 if they feel like causing any more trouble."

Alex nodded gratefully. "Thanks," he said quietly, appreciative that his _own country_ would be willing to go to such lengths for him. There was silence for a long few seconds. Before Alfred of course decided that their moment had lasted long enough.

"Soooo, Mini-James Bond. What kind of missions did you end up going on? Were they exciting? Did you get any cool gadgets? Can I see them? Saved the world at any point? Ever been to America? Wait, of course you have. Who wouldn't want to come to America? We have much better food anyways. Well at least better than Iggy's here."

Ignoring Arthur's shout of protest, Alex chuckled before answering the excitable nation, "Well to tell you the truth, I've actually been on like 12 missions at this point. Most involved saving the world or at least a portion of it, not joking here by the way. Trust me, I wish I was. Yes, I've had gadgets, and no, I don't have any right now. And yes, I've been to the US as well. MI6 actually loaned me out to both the CIA and even ASIS for a couple missions, so I've been to Australia too. I ended up in Russia, Italy, and even a few other countries as well at some point."

Alfred looked at him with wide eyes as the rest of the countries listened intently, growing increasingly worried about what exactly Alex had been involved with. "No way," Alfred said. "When did you end up with the CIA? And how come Ididn't hear about this?"

"It was my third mission, called Skeleton Key. I ended up having to stop a general named Alexei Sarov from blowing up a bunch of old, WWII-era nuclear submarines in Murmansk, Russia. If he had succeeded in setting them off, Russia would've taken the blame for destroying both Britain and most of Scandinavia in the fallout." Alex said gravely, simplifying the mission as explaining its entirety would take way too long. Glancing around, he saw that Russia's smile had grown colder and England looked horrified, Ivan's purple eyes gaining a harsh edge as he looked hard at Alex.

"I remember that incident. Some of my troops were sent to the area but it was declared a false alarm and dismissed. I had no idea we were so close starting another war," the big man stated, "I thank you for your help in stopping the conflict, young Alex." He paused, smile growing more cheerful once again, "This _Sarov_ , he is dead, _da_? Or do I have some skulls to bash in?"

Alex shivered, hoping he would never get on Russia's bad side. He almost felt bad for the people who did. But as he saw Russia starting to take out his pipe again, Alex hastened to respond to his question, lest the man really kill someone. "No need for that, Russia. Sarov is already dead. He killed himself after I tossed his activation key into the sea and refused to be his son." That statement got many a wide-eyed look, even from Russia.

"Refused to be his son? What do you mean?" came Matthew's soft inquiry.

Alex looked down as a blank look settled into his eyes, remembering the desperate man, "Alexei had lost his son. When one of his men almost killed me, he stopped them and decided that I would be a fitting replacement for what he had lost. He wanted me to become his son. He couldn't handle it when I refused him. So he took the gun that he had pointed at me and turned it on himself."

There was silence.

"Dude, that's kind of fucked up." America deadpanned.

"I would have to agree with America on that," commented Germany dryly, his statement accompanied by Italy's vigorous nodding.

But all the countries were nonetheless horrified at his tale. England hesitantly spoke up next, trying to change the subject from the near-start of a WWIII and the messed up general. "Wait, you mentioned ASIS, didn't you? I remember Australia telling me about a kid that crashed into the ocean from outer space. And how said kid ended up being taken in by ASIS. Was that you by any chance?"

Alex just nodded with a grimace, "Yeah, that one was Ark Angel, a guy named Nikolei Drevin wanted to crash the hotel they were making in outer space into the Pentagon to both erase his records and place the blame on a terrorist organization called Force Three. This led to me fighting a man in outer space and making sure the explosion to set the hotel on its crash course failed.

Eventually, when I came back down, I landed off the coast of Australia where I was found and recruited by ASIS to take down a Snakehead." He paused. "It's complicated. I'd rather not go into all that now though. Too many memories. Right now, I think I just need some rest. It's been a long day. Long _week_ really. . . " Alex trailed off towards the end, closing his eyes as he took a moment to collect his thoughts.

Around him, America's eyes had widened as Alex spoke. How many people would've died if that Drevin guy had succeeded in bombing the pentagon? And those were apparently just _two_ of his missions. The nation's eyes hardened as he turned to England, nodding silently. They would help this kid, he had earned it. Looking around, it seemed the other countries agreed.

Alex on the other hand didn't know what made him tell these people about his life. All he knew was that he was tired of all the missions and betrayals, he was tired of being hunted and nearly dying at every corner. And he felt he could trust these peop- no, these _countries_. Opening his eyes, Alex looked at the faces around him, stopping as England's bright green eyes met his own tired brown.

"Alex, it seems you've helped quite a few of us in some way or another. But now let us help you. We'll fix things, make it up to you, as you sure as hell deserve that much at the very least." Looking around once more at all the (mostly) determined faces (some were pretty hard to read), Alex felt that everything could only get better from here. He looked forward to what the future would bring.

. . .

"Um, everyone? I think the bad guys are starting to wake up. Should I hit them again -aru?"

And China had his wok out again. There was that too.

"Who?" And there was a polar bear here as well apparently. One that just spoke.

How did he miss that?

He should really stop being so surprised by these things really.

* * *

 _Thanks for sticking through to the end, I hope you enjoyed it!_

 _I may add more to this if I get any more ideas, but I'm not sure yet. I'll accept any suggestions though._

 _Reviews would help me out a lot! Just please keep it constructive._


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